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INAUGURATION OF 



Rev. Howard Crosby, D.D., 



AS 



CHANCELLOR, 



17tli >^ovember, 1870 



New York : 

J. Adnah Sackett, Book, Law and Job Printer, 48 John Street, 




1871. 



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sitofrsitg 0f t|i ffiiti 0f Mite mtk 



INAUGURATION OF 



Rev. Howard Crosby, D.D., 



AS 



CHANCELLOR, 



17tli ISTovember, 1870. 



New York : 

J. Adnah Sackett, Book, Law and Job Printer, 48 John Street. 

1871. 



The vacancy in the office, of Chancellor of the University , 
occasioned by the resignation of Rev. Isaac Ferris, D.D. on 
ISth July, 1870, luas filled by the election of llev. Howard 
Crosby, D.D. of the City of New York, on the 11th October 
of the same year. 

Dr. Ferris loa^ the third in the series of Chancellors, hav- 
ing been preceded by the Rev. J. M. Mattheios, D.D. and, the 
Hon. Theodore Frelinghuyscn LL. D. Dr. Ferris for sev-^ 
enteen years had fulfilled the didies of his office. 

The accession of Dr. Crosby teas cdtended loith enlarged 
plans in the curriculum of study, and force of the Faculties ; 
and with a determination to increase the endoicment. 

The jniblic Services of the Inauguration icas held at the 
Hall of the Younj 3Iens Christian Association, on Mh 
Avenue and 23{^ Street, in the City of Netc-York, on the 
evening of the 11th day of November, 1870. 

Mr. Charles B idler, in the absence of Mr. Join C. Gicen, 
the President of the Council, presided, and made the intro- 
ductory statement and address on behalf of the Council. 

The several departments of the University then presented, 
each through one of their Professors, their addresses of con- 
gratulation to the Chancellor on his accession. 



IV. 

The Faculty of Letters and Arts, ivos rejoresenied hy 
Professor E. A. Johnson, LL.D. 

The Faculty of 31edkine, ly Professor Alfred C. Post, 
31. D. 

The Faculty of Laio, hy Hon. Henry E. Davies, LL. D., 
President of the Law School. 

The Faculty of Science, by Professor Henry C. H roper, 
3LD. 

John Taylor Johnston, Esq., the President of the Alumni 
Association, addressed the Chancellor on the "part of the 
Alumni, 

These addresses j^Tcceded the Jnaugural Oration of Chan- 

CELLOK Ce03BY. 



ADDBESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 



Mr. Charles Butler, on behalf of the Council of the 
University, said : 

JHE installation of a new Chancellor affords a pro- 
per occasion to review briefly the origin and his- 
tory of the University of the City of New-York, and such 
a reminiscence is eminently due, not only to the memory 
of those who participated in laying the foundation of the 
Institution, but also to the distinguished scholars who 
have filled the professorial chairs during these forty 
eventful years of its existence : to the Alumni, who have 
gone forth from its walls from year to year — many of 
whom have passed from this into a higher and better 
sphere, leaving behind them names fragrant with pre- 
cious memories — and to those who remain performing 
their part in the great world around us. The history of 
the University then, is embodied in the comprehensive 
plans and munificence of its founders ; in the work of its 
able and accomplished faculties, and in the character and 
lives of its Alumni. Time would not permit me to enter 
upon this history this evening, but I trust the record will 
be made by a more able hand, while there yet linger 
among us the footsteps of some of its original founders. 

We may however glance briefly at its origin^recall 
the names of a few of its projectors and friends, and 
those who have been identified with its history, as mem- 
bers of its Council, and of its various Faculties, and dwell 



6 ADDRESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 

for a moment on its present condition and future pros- 
pects. 

Institutions live, while they who found them pass 
away. 

Educational institutions in this country all spring from 
a common origin, the voluntary principle, and are expo- 
nents of the genius and intelligence of the people, and 
the progress and growth of the country, in all the ele- 
ments that constitute her true greatness. If we would 
form a proper idea of the munificence and wise foresight 
which erected the stately structure on Washington Square, 
we must go back forty years, to 1830, when the popula- 
tion of the City, according to the census, was only about 
200,000, and Columbia College was the only Institution 
within its limits, which offered the advantages of a liberal 
education. This 'College had been richly endowed, in 
part by the Crown, previous to the Revolution, and in 
part by the State afterwards, and was, therefore, inde- 
pendent of private support. The opportunities offered 
by it however, were not then deemed adequate to the in- 
creasing necessities of the people of this rapidly growing 
city, and to meet the deficiency, and supply a pressing 
need in the interest of the city then and for all time, a 
few leading and public spirited citizens associated them- 
selves together, and determined to lay the foundation of 
an Institution of learning, to be erected by private liber- 
ality, which should bear the name of the University of 
the City of New-York, and which should be every way 
worthy of the Metropolis. 

They did not solicit the State or the City to aid in its 
endowment, and neither has ever contributed in any de- 
gree to its permanent funds. 



ADDRESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 7 

The organization was perfected in 1830, and on the 
18th of April, 1831, an Act of Incorporation was passed 
by the Legislature. 

This Act provides that the government and estate of 
the University shall be conducted and managed by a 
Council composed of thirty-two shareholders, the Mayor, 
and four members of the Common Council ; that no one 
religious sect shall ever have a majority in the Board, 
and that persons of every religious denomination shall 
be equally eligible to all its offices and appointments. 
The members of the first Council named in the act Avere, 
Jonathan M. Wainwright, James M. Matthews, Spencer 
H. Cone, James Milnor, Samuel H. Cox, Jacob Brod- 
bead, Cyrus Mason, Archibald Maclay, Morgan Lewis, 
Albert Gallatin, Samuel E. Betts, James Tallmadge, 
Henry J. Wycoff, George Griswold, Myndert Van Schaick, 
Stephen Whitney, John Haggerty, Martin E. Thompson, 
James Lsnox, Benjamin L. Swan, John S. Crary, Sam- 
uel Ward, Jun'r, William Cooper, Fanning C. Tucker, 
Oliver M. Lownds, Valentine Mott, Edward Delafield, 
William W. Woolsey, Charles G. Troup, Gabriel P. Dis- 
osway, Charles Starr, and John Delafield, with William 
Seaman, Gideon Lee, Benjamin M. Brown, and Thomas 
Jeremiah, members of the Comnon Council, together 
with Walter Bowne, then Mayor of the City. 

You will not fail to recognize in this list the names of 
many of the leading Citizens, Bankers, Merchants, Di- 
vines and Physicians of that day — and it ma}^ be men- 
tioned incidentally here that this movement awakened 
an interest among thoughtful men on the subject of 
education generally, which a few years later resulted in 



8 ADDRESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 

the reorganization of the Common School system of the 
City on a free basis, and in the establishment of the Free 
Academy, now the College of New- York. 

Albert Gallatin was the first President of the Council 
elected in 1831, with Morgan Lewis as Yice-President^ 
honored and distinguished names in the history of our 
country — the one had been Secretary of the Treasury of 
the United States, and the other Governor of this State- 
On the resignation of Mr. Gallatin, the duties of Presi- 
dent were discharged by the Yice-President, up to 1834,. 
when Gen'l James Tallmadge was elected, and held the 
office for a period of twelve years. On his death, m 
1846, the Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring acted as President 
pro fem. for a period of three years. This eminent di- 
vine was elected a member of the Council in 1843, a 
position which he still holds. 

Immediately after their organization, the Council pro- 
ceeded to the work of erecting a suitable building for 
the accommodation of the Institution, and the magnifi- 
cent structure on Washington Square stands to-day a 
monument of their public spirit, wise foresight, and per- 
sistent energy. 

The Council were subjected to some criticism for 
adopting plans of such dimensions and cost, and it is 
certain the magnitude of the work entailed upon them 
heavy burdens, and that for many years pecuniary re- 
sponsibihties taxed their patience and energies to the 
utmost, crippled the Institution, and impeded its suc- 
cess. 

But its friends never shrank from the task they had 
assumed. In the darkest days between 1837 and 1840, 



ADDEESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 9 

when ruin and bankruptcy were impending, and to hu- 
man eye seemed inevitable, they never faltered in their 
interest and support. Foremost among them were 
George Griswold, John Johnston, Myndert Van Schaick, 
James Brown, James Boorman, Samuel S. Howland, 
William M. Halstead, R. T. Haines, and other equally 
honored names. 

Dr. Matthews was appointed by the Council to the 
office of first Chancellor in 1831, which office he held 
until 1839. He was one of the original founders, and 
had taken perhaps a more active part than any other, in 
all the measures to establish the Institution, and it is 
but simple justice to his memory to say, that but for his 
comprehensive views, and his enthusiastic devotion to 
them — his untiring zeal and efforts, the building would 
not at that time have been completed. 

In 1839, Dr. Matthews was succeeded as Chancellor 
by that eminent lawyer and christian statesman, Theo- 
dore Frelinghuysen, who made it a condition of his ac- 
ceptance of the office, that the friends of the University 
should relieve it from its floating debt, and to this end 
about eighty thousand dollars were promptly subscribed. 
On his resignation in 1857, he was succeeded by Dr. 
Ferris, and soon after his election the last vestige of 
debt was extinguished, mainly through his influence and 
instrumentality. Dr. Ferris, after 19 years of faithful 
duty, has just resigned, and the Council, feeling that 
they ought not longer to hold him to the labors of the 
office, as an expression of their abiding respect and af- 
fection, have placed him on the foundation of Chancel- 
lor EMERITUS, with a continuance of salary during his 
life, a testimonial most richly deserved. 



10 ADDRESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 

Thus, up to the present time, the University has had 
but three Chancellors ; the fourth is to be inaugurated 
this evening. He is one of its Alumni, of the class of 
1844, the son of one of its founders, who contributed 
liberally towards its support, and for many years was a 
member of its Council, and gave to it the benefit of his 
wisdom and personal influence. Having graduated with 
the highest honors, he was called in 1852 to fill the chair 
of Greek Professor, which he did for many years, with 
great acceptance and advantage to the Institution. He 
afterwards occupied the same chair in Eutger's College, 
which he finally relinquished from convictions of duty, 
to fill a position of the highest usefulness, that of 
the sacred ministry. He is now called by the unani- 
mous and cordial voice of the Council to assume the 
office of its Executive head. 

Having for several years been a member of the Coun- 
cil, participated in the management, and made himself 
familar with its present condition and needs, the infor- 
mation thus acquired, added to his ripe scholarship, and 
his varied and useful experience, inspire the Council 
with the conviction, that with his accession to the Chan- 
cellorship, a new epoch opens to the University. 

With this change, which introduces into the Executive 
chair one of its own sons, thoroughly imbued with a love 
for his Alma Mater ; and in sympathy with the demands 
of the times in regard to education, and the needs es- 
pecially of this great city ; and with the aid of Faculties 
in every department, composed of men, who to say the 
least for scholarship and ability will compare favorably 
with those ^of any College or Educational Institution in 



ADDRESS FROM THE COUNCIL. 11 

the country, we may trust that the University will accom- 
plish in the future all that its founders and friends have 
hoped for it. 

The first Faculty of Science and Letters was organized 
in 1832 ; it was composed of — 

Eev. (afterward Bishop,) Charles P. Mcllvaine, Henry 
Yethake, Daniel B. Douglas, John Torrey, Thomas H. 
Oallaudet, John MuUigan, Rev. Henry P. Tappan, Samuel 
P. B. Morse, Edward Robinson. 

Afterwards, other Faculties were established of Law 
and Medicine. We have no time here to indicate the 
names, distinguished in Science and Literature — in Law 
and Medicine — which from time to time have composed 
the Faculties of the University, since the organization of 
the first, forming a catalogue of which any Institution 
of learning might be proud. 

But there is one which appears on the list of our first 
^Faculty of Science and Letters which stands out so 
prominently not only in the annals of the University but 
in those of the Nineteenth century, that it must not be 
passed by. It is enough to say, that it was in one of the 
Turrets of the University, overlooking Washington 
Square, that Samuel F. B. Morse, one of its Professors, 
first made those experiments which gave to the world 
the Electric Telegraph. Let us congratulate ourselves 
that the illustrious inventor is with us this evening, and 
that his name is known and honored in every quarter of 
the globe. 

In this connection I may also mention the name of 
Dr. John William Draper, (now absent in Europe,) who 
has occupied chairs in the University, and been actively 



12 ADDKESS FEOM THE COUNCIL. 

identified with it for more than thirty years, and who is 
well known in both hemispheres for his works in various- 
departments of science, history and literature. En- 
gaged in experiments in photography, in the earliest 
period of this wonderful art, he was the first who suc- 
ceeded in applying it to the representation of the humaii 
countenance. 

At present, no Institution in the city or country offers- 
to young msn a 1 vantages and attractions for study^ 
superior to those of the University. 

It has organized and able Faculties in the several 
Departments of Science and Letters — of Law — Medi- 
cine ; it has a School of Civil Engineering — of Analyti- 
cal and Practical Chemistry, and a special course for 
students in Physical Science and English Studies. 

It only now remains to open its doors and to offer 
these advantages to all, without money and without 
price. To enable the Council to do this, will require a. 
moderate addition to its existing endowments and in- 
come. Thanks to the generosity of our fellow citizens,, 
(among whom I must name Loring Andrews, Avho not 
long since made us the munificent gift of $100,000,) the^ 
additional amount required to establish the University 
on a free basis is not large. 

An addition to its permanent fund of $240,000 would 
secure the accomplishment of the plans formed for its- 
complete success. 

In comparison with what was effected when the wealth 
and population of the city were both so limited, and 
above all, in view of the great objects to be attained,, 
and the opportunity now opened to the Institution,, 



ADDEESS FEOM THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND ARTS. 13 

A 

V 

should there be a question or dehiy in giving it this ad- 
ded source of strength and efficiency ? 

And now, sir, I present you the Resohitions of the 
Oouncil, constituting you the head, and committing to 
you the care, of this Institution ; and with these I tender 
to you our congratulations, and the expression of our 
liighest confidence, earnestly wishing, that by the bless- 
ing of a gracious Providence upon your labors, you may 
be enabled to fulfill the duties of your responsible sta- 
tion with satisfaction to yourself, and eminent usefulness 
to the community. 



Prof. E. A. Johnson, LL.D., on behalf of the Faculty 
of Letters and Art, addressed the Chancellor, as follows : 

Heverend and Honored Sir : 

'AVING been designated by my colleagues to tender 
to you, on this occasion, the congratulations of the 
Faculty of Science and Letters, permit me to assure you 
that it is with more than ordinary gratification and 
satisfaction that I respond to the call, and in their name 
welcome you once more to the responsibilities of academic 
trust and to its highest dignity. 

Holding as we do a connection with the University 
which dates from a time so near its first organization, 
and covers the entire terms of the incumbency of the 
second and third Chancellors, as well as the conclusion 
of the term of the earliest incumbent of the office, there 



14 ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND ARTS. 

is reason for our rejoiciDg that from among her own son& 
one has been found to unite the suffrages of all who 
cherish with feelings of pride and confident hope her 
past history and future welfare. 

We rejoice in your return to academic life in this new 
position of honor and trust — first, because in a twofold 
sense we count you as one of us. Our memory goes- 
back to the time when you first entered the University 
as a student, and were fondly encircled by the fostering 
arms of your Alma Mater. We did not afterwards lose 
sight of you when you had left her fold, and in your 
allotted place were trying the weapons and proving the 
armor with which she had furnished you for the battle of 
life. It was, too, with fond pride that we saw you recalled 
to her service as an honored son, and put in charge of 
an important chair in the corps of her instructors. It 
is not as strangers, then, that we meet, but as those that 
have mutually known each other long and intimately- 
Our congratulations and felicitations therefore at this 
time, believe me, are more than a mere form. They 
come from our hearts, and we trust find like cordial re- 
sponse in your own. 

What our institutions of learning of the highest grade 
should be, where they should be located, and how con- 
ducted, are questions on which it is not my province on 
this occasion to touch. But it is no unimportant ground 
of our congratulations, besides the personal ones to which 
I have referred, that you bring with you to this new field 
so large an experience of academic life, acquired in two 
different institutions, and that since your withdrawal 
from these posts you have been in daily and intimate 



ADDEESS FEOM THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AlsD AETS. 15 

contact with the unacademic world through the channels 
of a varied and far-reaching professional career. This 
twofold experience of the internal working and needs of 
our collegiate institutions, and of the external relations 
in which they stand to the community and of the de- 
mands that are made upon them — experiences so happily 
united in you, and held simultaneously without antago- 
nism, give us aa assurance that, with a heart warmed by 
filial love for your Alma Mater, with a memory richly 
stored with the lessons of practical and academic life, 
with a matured judgment and firm purpose, you accept 
the honor and the trust reposed in you, with a will that 
shall leave no question of the way to accomplish the high 
ends for which it was founded and is still cherished in 
the hearts of its friends. 

YoiL- A.lmiMifcer is situate:! in the very heart of the 
metropolitan city of the nation, and, bearing its name, 
is designed primarily to meet its wants. These wants, 
moral and intellectual, social and religious — in a word 
educational in the truest and highest sense of the term 
— you have not now for the first time to learn. Your ac- 
quaintance with them has been a life-long acquaintance ; 
and beyond that of the native-born citizen merely, who 
has only made this city the seat of his residence, it has 
been rendered more minute and comprehensive, as per- 
taining to both sexes and all ages, by the requirements 
of a profession which includes them all. 

The very activities and industries of a busy commer- 
cial city, its high material prosperity and consequent 
tendency to neglect spiritual and mental growth and ad- 
vancement, however these influences may be thought to 



16 ADDKESS FKOM THE FACULTY OF LETTEES AND ARTS. 

conflict with the retirement and quiet supposed to be 
necessary for intellectual and scientific culture, make it 
more imperatively necessary that the softening and ele- 
vating influences of educational institutions and systems 
of every grade, from the primary to the highest, should 
be established within her precincts, fostered by her en- 
lightened citizens, and sustained with a vigor and a 
power commensurate with her lofty aspirations, her proud 
position, and the urgent needs of her population. 

We congratulate you, honored sir, that in these direct- 
ions your head and heart and hand will, in your new 
position, find ample scope for the exercise of the ma- 
turest wisdom, the most expansive benevolence, and the 
highest and most fruitful activity. 

Nor is it single-handed and alone that we welcome 
you to the high emprise. We believe that you will have 
the cordial sympathy and effective support of all true 
lovers of good learning, of all enlightened friends of 
social order and progress — in a word, of the benefactors 
of their race. For when and where have the noblest re- 
presentatives of the commercial enterprise of this city^ 
of its material prosperity in every direction of its en- 
ergies, of its scientific, literary. Christian culture and 
refinement, been backward to appreciate, throughout the 
land, the claims of education and learning, or slow to 
assist the efforts made in their behalf. 

In particular among these representatives of our 
city's wealth, culture, and munificence will be found, we 
trust, many an Alumnus of the University who will re- 
cognize and ackno (vledge the tie which binds her sons in 
^ common brotherhood and holds them to a united en- 



ADDEESS FIIOM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 17 

•deavor to realize under your lead the Lign aspirations 
iiiid hopes 'rhich thej have long cherished for their Alma 
Mater. 

With happy omens and good auspices, then, we hail 
ihe inauguration of the fourth Chancellor, and congratu- 
late you, and thi'ough yon the Alumni of the University, 
ihat their Alma Mater sees them in the full possession of 
lier highest dignities and trusts. 

That just pride in her sons may ever be to her the best 
ixud highest guerdon, and that, sustained by their sym- 
pathies, stimulated by their zeal, and aided by their 
•counsels and co-operation, she may become more and 
more worthy of their filial reverence and support, has 
been and will ever be our wish and prayer. 



-:o:- 



Prof. Alfred C. Post, M. D., on behalf of the Faculty 

of Medicine, addressed the Chancellor, as follows : 

S a representative of the Faculty of Medicine in this 
Institution, I take great pleasure in joining with the 
other Faculties in presenting a united tribute of respect, 
to the learned Scholar and accomplished Christian gentle- 
man, who has been elected to the high office of Chancellor 
of the University. Each Faculty, has its own special c^e - 
partment, committed to its care, while all are engaged in 
the common object of enlarging the boundaries of science, 
of cultivating the intellect, of developing the moral facul- 
ties, and raising the whole man above the low platform of 



18 ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF MEDICIKE. 

his animal appetites and passions, to the higher level 
"which it becomes him to occupy, as a rational and re- 
sponsible being. 

The University of the City of New- York, during the 
period of nearly forty years which have elapsed since its 
foundation, has occupied a distinguished position among 
the institutions of learning in our country, and the bril- 
liant discoveries, and scientific improvements of some o£ 
its Professors, have commanded the admiration of the 
civilized world, and will continue to shed their beneficent 
influences, upon all the dwellers on the earth, until the end 
of time. We are so much accustomed to the wonders of 
the Electric Telegraph, that we have almost forgotten that 
it is a product of our own age, and that our immediate 
ancestors, knew nothing of its beneficent operations. We 
receive communications from our friends in Chicago, New 
Orleans, or San Francisco, within an hour from the time 
when they were sent. Or if by appointment, we meet at 
the telegraph ofiices, we can converse along the mysterious 
wires and communicate our thoughts and feelings, almost in 
a moment of time, over an interval of hundreds, or even 
thousands of miles. We sit at our breakfast tables, and 
as we read our morning papers, we receive accurate in- 
formation of the events of the preceding day, in France 
and in Germany, in England and in Russia, in Italy and 
in Spain. And these things have become so much a matter 
of course, that we scarcely think that it was not always so. 
And yet, but a few years have passed, since the Electric 
Telegraph was first constructed, and for this wonderful in- 
vention, fraught with such stupendous results to the in- 
terests of humanity, the world is indebted to the genius 



ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 19 

and persevering industry of Professor Samuel F. B. 
Morse, of the University of the City of New- York. 

Among the most wonderful inventions of modern times 
is the Photographic Art, especially as it is applied to the 
delineation of the human form and features. We sit for 
a few moments, in front of a box provided with glass 
lenses, and the solar rays have depicted our image with 
an accuracy and minuteness of detail, far surpassing the 
best results of the painter's art. And these perfect deline- 
ations of the human countenance and figure, can be furn- 
ished at so low a price, as to bring them within the reach 
of the poorer classes of the community. Parents can 
thus, at a slight expense, provide portraits of their 
children, from year to year, exhibiting their growth 
and development from infancy to mature age. And the 
venerated forms and features of parents, may in like 
manner be preserved to their children, in the different 
stages of what to the outward eye, seems to be the decay 
of their natural powers, but which to the eye gf faith, and 
of filial affection, is the ripening for a better state of be- 
ing, in a brighter and purer world. And what shall I say 
of the delight which is afforded to two young hearts which 
beat in unison, as they enjoy the luxury of " love's young 
dream," when they exchange with each other the por- 
traits, in which each can trace the perpetual presence of 
the object most loved on earth ? 

But it would be a superfluous task to dwell in detail, on 
the additions to the sum of human enjoyment, which the 
Photographic Art has contributed by its accurate deliaea- 
tions of the human form and features. The amount of 
enjoyment thus afforded, is a fair measure of the debt 



ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 

which the world owes to Professor John W. Draper, of 
this University, who made such improvements in the 
Daguerrean art, then in its infancy, as to adapt it to the 
aking of portraits. 

The Medical Faculty of the University of the City of 
New-York, which I have the honor to represent, has ex- 
ercised an important influence on the interests of . medi- 
cal education in this city, and throughout our country. 
It was the first Medical Faculty in the United States, 
which introduced the system of clinical instruction, with- 
in the College walls. And its example in this respect, 
has been followed by all the Medical Colleges of any repu- 
tation throughout the country. And in this manner, a 
vast amount of valuable practical instruction has been 
communicated to our successive classes of medical students, 
fitting them to perform in a better manner the important 
and responsible duties of professional life. Another 
great boon conferred upon the profession, by the Medical 
Faculty of this Univer.-ity, was the securing of an enactment, 
by the Legislature of the State of New- York, legalizing 
the study of Practical Anatomy. Before the establish- 
ment of this Faculty, the supply of the necessary material 
for dissections Avas scarce and uncertain, and it could not 
be obtained without a violation of the law of the State, 
subjecting the perpetrator to punishment, as a felon. The 
law presented this curious anomaly, that medical men 
were liable to punishment for malpractice, if ignorant of 
Anatomy, and if they were detected in the act of procur- 
ing the material, without which it was impossible to ob- 
tain the requisite anatomical knowledge, they were 
doomed to imprisonment, as felons, in company with 



ADDRESS FEOM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 21 

thieves and ruffians. So great was the difficulty of ob- 
taining subjects for dissection, that it became necessary 
to import them from other cities. When I was demon- 
strator of Anatomy, in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, I was sent to Baltimore, to make arrangements for 
a supply of subjects, from t ' i at city. The Mec i 3al Ft: calty 
of the University, soon after its establishment, took vig- 
orous measures to secure from the Legislature of the State, 
appropriate legislation to overcome this difficulty. The 
obstacles to success were great, and apparently insur- 
mountable. Popular prejudices against dissections, seemed 
to be an impassible barrier, and our politicians were un- 
willing to come into collision with these prejudices. But 
the Medical Faculty nobly persevered, until at last, their 
efforts were crowned with complete success. A law was 
passed by the Legislature, and approved by the Governor, 
making the most ample and liberal provision for the 
study of Practical Anatomy. For this consummation, so 
devoutly wished and longed for by the profession, and so 
important to the community at large, credit is mainly due 
to the untiring energy, and the tactical skill of Professor 
Martyn Paine, who spent a long time at Albany, working 
with his characteristic ardor, in convincing the members 
of the Legislature, of the absolute necessity of the pro- 
posed measure, as a means of promothig the great inter- 
ests of science and humanity . 

The graduates of the Medical Department of this Uni- 
versity are about 3,000 in number. They are to be found 
in every part of our country, from the great Lakes to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean. Many of them reside in the British Possessions, 



22 ADDRESS FBOM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 

beyond our northern limits, and a number of them, in the 
West Indies and in Central and South America. Some 
of them are to be found in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and 
in the Islands of the Ocean. They occupy places of dis- 
tinguished influence and usefulness, as practitioners of 
medicine, and as teachers of the healing art. Seven of 
them, occupy important chairs in the Medical Colleges of 
this city, and others occupy chairs in other Medical Col- 
leges in our country. One of them is Professor of Sur- 
gery, in Beirut, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean 
Sea, and another occupies the chair of Anatomy, in the 
same Institution. And thus, through the agency of its 
Alumni, the University of the City of New-York is infus- 
ing the light of Western civilization into the sluggish 
mind of the East, and arousing it from its torpor, to ac- 
tive effort in the investigation of scientific truth, and in 
the cultivation of arts, which tend to the prolongation of 
human life, and to the promotion of human happiness. 

But the time allotted to me, will not allow me to dwell 
longer on this topic. The event, which we celebrate this 
evening, is the Inauguration of Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, 
as Chancellor of this University. He brings with him, 
to the high station to which he has been called, a solid 
reputation for learning, a refined taste, an energy of 
purpose, and decision of character, which afford a prom- 
ise of extraordinary usefulness, in the new sphere 
which he is to occupy. Allow me to express the hope 
that this promise may be amply fulfilled, and that the 
administration of our new Chancellor, may be signalized 
by the infusion of new life into every department of the 
University, and that the Institution may thus receive an 



ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 23 

impetus, which shall greatly increase its power and its 
usefulness. And when, at the close of a life devoted to 
the interests of sound learning and pure religion, he 
shall look back upon the results which he shall have 
been permitted to accomplish, may he have the cheer- 
ing assurance, that his works shall follow him. May 
this Institution, for long ages to come, occupy the prom- 
inent position which becomes it, as the University of the 
C/ity of New-York. And when this imperial city, as its 
manifest destiny seems to indicate, shall surpass, in pop- 
ulation and in wealth, the most renowned cities of 
-ancient and modern times, when its population shall be 
numbered by tens of millions, and the commerce of a vast 
and populous continent shall enrich its citizens, may 
this venerable seat of learning grow with its growth, 
and strengthen with its strength. From its halls of 
learning, may a long line of young men annually emerge, 
strong in their intellectual and moral development, and 
prepared to occupy prominent positions of usefulness, 
in Church and in State. Among its future Alumni and 
Professors, may there be other Morses and Drapers, 
whose brilliant discoveries and inventions shall excite 
the admiration of the world, and other earnest workers 
in the cause of human progress, who shall contribute 
their full share in ushering in that golden age of the 
future, as yet seen only in prophetic vision, when ignor- 
ance and vice and poverty shall disappear from the 
world, when universal peace and brotherhood shall ex- 
ist among the nations, and when the kingdom of God 
shall be established upon the earth, that kingdom whose 
blessed fruits shall be righteousness, and peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost. 



.24 - ADDRESS FEOM THE FACULTY OF LAW. 

Hon. Henry E. Davies, on behalf of the Faculty of 
Law, addressed the Chancellor, as follows: 

Chancellor Crosby : 

^IT i^i fitting, on an occasion of so much interest in the 
^^ history of this Institution as the Inauguration of a 
new Chancellor, that every Department should join in the- 
universal welcome, and in the chorus of congratulation^ 
It is an epoch in the career of the University, and though 
the axiom is universally accepted that '^ inter arma Itges- 
silent,'' yet on this peaceful and joyous occasion the- 
Law may be permitted to raise its voice of rejoicing and 
express its gratification. 

The pleasing duty has been assigned to me, of extend- 
ing a cordial welcome to 3^ou as our new Chancellor, and 
to assure you of the earnest co-operation of all the mem- 
bers of the Law Faculty, to advance the interests of the- 
Institution, and render your administration of its affairs- 
useful and distinguished. 

We know that you enter upon the discharge of these 
laborious and complicated duties, with an earnest desire- 
to elevate the standard of learning, and more widely 
diffuse the benefits and advantages of this Institution.. 
Your long and intimate connection with the University r 
your knowledge of its capabilities, and materials for use- 
fulness, eminently qualify you to render these effective,, 
and enable you to dispense to those who come to its halls, 
the rich treasures it has in store for all who diligently 
seek them. 

Thus by precept and example you will encourage the 
timid, strengthen the weak, give new vigor and energj 



ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF LAW. 25 

to the strong ; lead all, through the gentle and inviting 
groves of learning to higher attainments, and to the ac- 
quisition of that knowledge, which renders man useful 
and happy, and in all the affairs of life is poicer. You 
will soon have perfected the organization of the various 
Departments of the University. You will impart to them 
your energy, and your zeal in the administration of their 
affairs. You will gather around you the young men of 
this commercial metropolis, who will eagerly seek the 
occasion to sit under your instructions, and be guided by 
your counsels, and who will catch new life and energy 
from the atmosphere surrounding them. You will thus 
widely diffuse the rich advantages which the founders 
of this Institution have so munificently provided for the 
youth of this city. 

That it may be your good fortune to witness the real- 
ization of all your fond hopes, and expectations, is the 
desire of those associated with me in the Law Faculty, 
and who will spare no effort to strengthen your hands, 
and lend you their efficient support. 

It is our ardent hope and confident expectation that 
you will go out and come in before this people laden 
with their choicest blessings ; and that when your labors 
are ended, one universal commendation will await you. 
Well done tJiou good and faithful servant^ and that when 
your labors here shall terminate, you will take with you 
as your reward the affectionate regards of a grateful com- 
munity, and the consciousness of duty well performed. 



-:o: 



•26 ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE. 

Prof. Henry Draper, M. D., on behalf of the Faculty 
-of Science, addressed the Chancellor, as foUows : 

Beverend Chancellor Crosby : 

)Y order of the Committee of the Council, I am de- 
puted to represent the Scientific Department of 
the University, on this the occasion of your installation 
as Chancellor of thq University. The duty is particu- 
larly grateful to m9, from our long acquaintance and old 
University relationship. Eighteen years ago when you 
were a Professor in this Institution I was in your class, 
and an agreeable reminiscence of that period still remains. 
Again by the proceedings of this evening we are brought 
>close together, but each with time has moved a step up- 
ward in Alma Mater. I know that as Chancellor and 
Professor, we shall repeat the pleasant intercourse of 
Professor and Student. 

Your accession to the management of the University, 
comes at a time when changes are occurring in the Ameri- 
can system of instruction. The public demands a modi- 
fication of the time honored plan, and threatens with- 
drawal of its patronage from those institutions which do 
not respond. You have the difficult duty of adding to 
the curriculum what is advantageous among new things, 
without disturbing what has proved valuable in the past. 
The Council will sustain you in this, for it has always 
been generous with gifts of money, and liberal in its tone, 
and is ready to cooperate with the public, in whatever is 
needed to make the University as prosperous as any 
College in the land. 

We must provide for the people the intellectual food 



ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE. 27 

that their constitutions and desires demand, they will 
have what they want, or they will not come when they 
are bidden to the feast. Our Anglo Saxon race is stub- 
born in requiring in its education, not only that which 
polishes the mind, but also that which bears on the prac- 
tical affairs of life. Something is wrong in teaching, when 
a merchant says that he will not have a college boy in 
his office, that he is ruined for his purposes. 

In America, so young in history, and as yet only es- 
caping in intellect the leading strings of the mother 
country. Colleges have been too much prone to follow the 
old established systems, and forget that the mind of a 
nation develops as does the body of a child, and that 
that which is satisfactory to a people at one time, ceases 
to suffice afterwards. But in England, even at Oxford, 
which was the very type of the ancient order of things, 
the past few years have shown a great change, and ad- 
ditions and concessions to modern wants. To the course 
which is followed by the Universities of Europe, and 
particularly of Germany, one need hardly allude in face 
of this intelligent audience. Every one knows that they 
are very foci of modern mental activity. 

Now what is the present position of the University 
from this point of view ? Is she doing all that the public 
demands? Has she moved in the right direction and 
far enough ? 

Her Medical Department has by continued modification 
of its course, in accordance with the requirements of the 
profession, brought itself to a high stand among similar 
establishments. Only a few years ago, students were 
satisfied with the theoretical instruction of lectures, and 



28 ADDRESS FROM THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE. 

an occasional visit to the wards of an Hospital, but as 
the advantages of the reduction of theory to practice 
became more evident, that Faculty, under the auspices 
of the late Dr. Mott, introduced sick persons into the 
class room, and taught the diagnosis and treatment of 
disease upon the living subject. To such an extent has 
the satisfying of this craving for practical instruction 
been carried, that on an average 2J hours each day are 
expended in it, partly in our own building, and partly in 
the public Hospitals. The consequence is that ihe Med- 
ical Department points with pride to nearly 3,000 grad- 
uates, and 9,000 students in America. 

In the Literary Department, for many years the Council 
has seen the importance of additions to the original plan, 
and the introduction of Science teaching on a more ex- 
tended scale. In 1860 a Professorship of Natural Science 
was added to the other chairs, though unendowed, and 
at a little later period, my brother and myself were en- 
couraged to establish from our own resources, a labor- 
atory for practical instruction in Analytical Chemistry. 
These and similar movements were important steps, and 
their effect has been to draw to the Institution those who 
would otherwise never have made their apperance within 
her walls. 

I look forward, Sir, under your auspices, and the con- 
trol of the Council, to a great development in this direc- 
tion. I trust the time may soon come when such studies 
as Physiology, or the construction and working of the 
human body, the practical applications of that most 
practical of all sciences Chemistry, Geology and Min- 
eralogy, anl their thousands of useful facts. Botany and 



ADDI^ESS FKOM THE ALUMNI. '20 

Agricultural Chemistry, may not only be taught but 
taught thoroughly, nay even when the XJniversitj^ shall 
have her own Meteorological and Astronomical Observa- 
tories. It is not enough that such buildings and instru- 
ments as these last imply, should be in the private hands 
of Professors, and others connected with this Institution. 
They should be its property, and worked for its glory. 
The Universitj^ should not be made visible by borrowed 
lio^ht, but shine of itself like the Sun. 

It is with great pleasure that we may congratulate 
ourselves, on the recent action of the Council of the Uni- 
versity, in giving an impetus to the Scientific Department. 
It will be a proud day for all connected with her in all 
her branches, the Medical, the Literary, the Scientific, 
and Legal Departments, when she shall show what educa- 
tion should be, and point to her many students as the 
token of public approval. May a repetition of such 
magnificent practical discoveries as the Electric Telegraph 
of Professor Morse, and the application of Photography 
to human portraiture of Professor Draper, be her portion 
in the future. 

:o:- 



John Taylor Johnston, Esq., on behalf of the Alumni, 
addressed the Chancellor, as follows : 

Erother Alumnus : 

t" N behalf of the Alumni, I, their President, welcome 
to the highest office in the gift o! the University, 
cue who, like them, has made her academic halls the 
passage way to the busy world. For the first time in 



30 ADDRESS FROM THE ALUMNI. 

the history of our Alma Mater a graduate has been se- 
lected for her care and supervision, and ta assist others 
in reaching that goal which he has already successfully 
passed. It is unnecessary to recall again, as has been re- 
called, that you have been alternately scholar and teacher, 
student and professor, member of the Council and now 
Chancellor and general head. We welcome you sincerely 
and heartily. From the day of your Inauguration, we 
hope to date a new era of progress for the University in 
all her departments, and to look back to it as the begin- 
ning of a grander development of the extensive designs 
of her founders. The graduates of the University are 
her life blood, her vitality, from which she draws fresh 
vigor and activity. She points with pride to the many 
names that adorn her roll, men eminent in position at the 
bar, in the pulpit, in the busy walks of commerce and 
general business, among our literary institutions and in 
public life. Everywhere they are to be found toiling to 
fulfil their individual missions in their day and genera- 
tion. During the late unhappy civil war they responded 
nobly to the call of their country, and many fell fighting 
bravely in her defence. The present Mayor of this city 
is a graduate from these walls, and whatever difference 
of opinion there may be about his politics, there can be 
none about his ability and energy. Let us hope that the 
Alumni will now be found urging forward with heart, 
hand and purse, the interests of their never forgotten 
Alma Mater ; and that, stimulated by your zeal and en- 
ergy, they also may successfully add to that prosperity 
which, without their steady and constant aid, can be but 
temporary. They see in you, sir, one of their number 



ADDRESS FROM THE ALUMNI. 31 

devoting himself, without pecuniary recompense or re-^ 
ward, to the great work of building up in this commercial 
metropolis a literary centre worthy of the locality. Let 
this be a stimulus and a spur to them, and let them be 
a strong and valiant aid to you. Again, in their name, 
I bid you a hearty welcome to our halls in your new po- 
sition, and wish you a brilliant success. May the Alumni 
not fail to redeem the pledge of support that I make you 
in their name; may you have them with you in everyway ;. 
may that God who alone shapes our destinies guide and 
protect you, give you wisdom from on high, and a pleas- 
ant and useful career to look back on when its close- 
draws nigh. 



-.0: 



INAUGURAL OEATION. 



:o:- 



University is a living encyclopedia. The ideal Uni- 
versity would include arts, sciences, philosophy 
and technics, and the all of these. A living mind would 
communicate the truth in feacli of these departments of 
knowledge, and the truth in each case would be all the 
truth known to man, in relation to the given subject. 
Such is the ideal University. The actual Universities 
of the world may be considered attempts longo intervallo 
to reach this idea. 

Historically, we find the University originating in the 
12th century, growing in a very natural way out of the 
schools attached to Cathedrals and Monasteries. Learn- 
ing gathered about these centres. The churchmen 
were tlie onl}^ educated class, and the students of the 
schools were candidates for positions and honors in the 
Church. The teachers or the students gradually formed 
themselves into corporations for mutual support, re- 
ceived local immunities, and they became integral parts 
of the ecclesiastical system. The Italian, and most of 
the French Universities, were corporations of students, 
while the University of Paris was a corporation of 



INAUGUKAL OKATIOX. 33 

teachers. Those of Northern Europe and of Spain, 
occupied an intermediate position. Individual peculi- 
arities, arising from local circumstances, would mark 
•each Institution, but thiBir general features were alike. 

Cambridge and Oxford in England, and Pavia in 
Italy, are generally considered the oldest of the 108 
Universities of Europe. The School at Cambridge goes 
back to the Heptarchy in A. D. 636, and Ingulphus 
tells us, that after the Normans had entered, as late as 
A. D. 1109, it consisted of four monks, teaching in a 
barn. But in A. J), 1231, it had reached the full pro- 
portions of a University, with Chancellor and Masters. 
The School at Oxford was founded by Alfred in A. D. 
879, or rather an old school was restored by that ener- 
getic Monarch. In A. D. 1190, we first find it a Uni- 
versity. The school of Pavia claims to have been con- 
stituted by Charlemagne, in A. D. 774, but we must de- 
scend to the 14fch century, before w^e can recognize in it 
the features of a Universit}^ 

Four faculties, to wit, of Theology, Law, Medicine, and 
the Arts were found in the complete Universitj^, and 
these faculties severally consisted of all the teachers or 
students (acco)*dirig to the style of the Institution) in 
any one of these departments of knowledge, forming 
subordinate corporations of the University corporation. 

It continued its existence by granting degrees. The 
Bachelor (a term borrowed from knighthood) was an 
unfledged teacher. The Master was the teacher in full 
feather, and the Doctor was the teacher all feathered 
and with the use of his wings. When certain Masters 
and Doctors in later times received peculiar privileges 



34 INAUGURAL ORATION. 

and fixed salaries, tliej became Professors, and so the 
original plan of teaching by graduates was to an extent 
superseded. To provide for indigent students Colleger 
or Halls were constituted in the University, the Hall be- 
ing an unincorporated College. These gradually be- 
came appropriated to particular Faculties, and lost their 
eleemosynary character, it becoming necessary for each 
student to be connected with some College. 

The head of the University was the Chancellor, whose 
duties were those of general oversight and granting of 
degrees. But the details of government and discipline 
were committed to the Rector, as presiding officer. 

These were the original features of the University. 
Modifications, according to the changes in social and 
political conditions, occurred, but the general outline 
remained as before. The Chancellor and Rector were 
sometimes the same, the discipline was sometimes com- 
mitted to a separate court, the Professors sometimes 
held different grades, as in the German Universities to- 
day are Professors ordinary, Professors extraordinary, 
and " Privat docents,'' the Professors were sometimes 
the governing as well as the teaching body, and the de- 
grees lost their specific character. From this historical 
sketch, we may see that the essentials of a University 
are faculties of high instruction in the various depart- 
ments of knowledge, with a system of sustentation and 
reward for the students, all under one general plan of 
government and discipline. The instruction, the susten- 
tation and the government, are the three efficiencies, 
in which we find the requisites for an Institution that 
claims for itself the name of University. 



INAUGUEAL OEATION. 35 

No mere school, that seeks an elementary benefit for 
its pupils, even though that elementary instruction 
should be spread over a large surface of knowledge, and 
on the other hand, no school of profoundest teaching, 
if that teaching be confined to a single department of 
knowledge, can be called a University. The instruction 
must be both broad and deep. It must, to some extent, 
endeavor to meet all the wants of the times in its variety, 
and must be able to carry the student to the highest 
attainments in each department. To this end, there 
must be distinct groups of instructors, who may subdi- 
vide a department between them, each able to develop 
his own specialty to the fullest degree, and to present 
his subject in the best way under the circumstances 
to the minds before him. The system precludes any 
combining of subjects in the one teacher. Subdivision 
is the necessity for thoroughness. Methods of communi- 
cating knowledge cannot be stereotyped. As men and 
times change, they must or may change. Daily recita- 
tions, daily lectures, periodical examinations, either of 
these separately, or any two or all combined, may be 
adopted, the object being to convey the instruction in 
the best manner to the minds of the students. A wise 
teacher will adapt himself to circumstances. He must 
not be only a reservoir of knowledge, but a flowing 
stream. It hardly need be urged that the diddoKaXog 
should be StdaKTiKogj and yet perhaps emphasis on so 
plain a truth may be sometimes necessary. 

The University does not suggest a centre of eruditon, 
but, more than that, a place of instruction. It is not a 
literary, philosophical and scientific club, but a grand 



36 INAUGUEAL OEATION. 

school, or congeries of schools, where learning propa- 
gates itself in all its multiformity, and grows in strength 
and fullness by the propagation. Its faculties are well- 
charged batteries, whose very function is to communi- 
cate intellectual life and arouse mind to energy. Life 
is the characteristic of a University. It is a rude and 
vulgar error to regard the mediaeval Universities as 
homes of sloth and drowsy bookishness. They were 
the creators of modern civilization, the elevators of soci- 
ety, the engines of all true progress. They held on 
high the torch of knowledge, and ever fed the cheering 
fire. 

Vigilem sacraverimt ignem, exciihias divum aeternas. 

They were the destroyers of feudalism and caste, and 
the practical preachers of liberty. They were all this 
as the dispensers of knowledge, by the very necessities 
of the case, rather than by any conceived purpose. 
They were all this in spite of mistakes that were insep- 
arable from the age and from their ecclesiastical origin. 
Bologna might send forth Gratian's Decretum, but cen- 
turies of legal talent and industry, devoted to the elucida- 
tion of jurisprudence, atone for this. 

The second efficiency, in which we find a requisite for 
a University, is sustentation. By that, I mean a method 
of meeting the wants of the indigent. It is a well es- 
tablished fact that learning and weeJth are not often 
partners. The men who have enlightened the world 
have had short purses and lean. They have pushed 
their way up the steep hill of Science through thorns; 
heroes they, who have welcomed poverty, if only wisdom 
were in her company. The ranks of the Universities 



INAUGURAL ORATION. 37 

were filled by such. Very few of the princes, nobles 
and wealthy gentry could resist the fascinations of a 
luxurious or brilliant life, to devote their time to the 
confining labors of the study, and thus become plain 
citizens in the Eepublic of letters. A method of sup- 
porting the student was a necessity from the beginning, 
and to this end endowments from Church, State and in- 
dividuals were received. The recipients of the benefit 
were called " socii," or " fellows." Originally, these fel- 
lowships were available only for those who were under 
the direct instruction of the University, but afterward 
they were extended to the students beyond their course 
of study, until they obtained a benefice. At length the 
fellowships were limited to those who had reached the 
degree of Master, and a system of bursaries or scholar- 
ships and special foundations took care of the under- 
graduates and bachelors. 

The University was never intended to be supported 
by its pupils. It was an Alma Mater nourishing its 
own, and not nourished by them. It gave its advantages 
freely to all who were worthy, and rendered its scholars 
a sufficient maintenance to free them from worldly anxi- 
ety. All it asked of its children was their love and du- 
tiful attachment, together with their upright and schol- 
arly lives. It gave them , intellectual status, and de- 
manded of them the honor that was due. 

In the government of the Institution, we find the third 
requisite of a University. One system embraced the 
whole. This was necessary for an even development, 
and harmonious action. The Colleges became wheels 
within a wheel. They were not independent of the 



38 INAUGUEAL OEATION. 

University, although independent of one another. The 
authority of the University was felt in every College. 
The Chancellor and the Council, University Court or 
Senatus superintended the teaching, administered the 
property, exercised the patronage to the chairs and 
managed all the general interests of the University. 
This governing centre had a great variety of forms in 
the different Institutions, but in almost all cases this 
feature was discernible; the Chancellor, Rector and 
Council, were Masters or Doctors of the University over 
which they presided. This bound them to its interests 
with the affection of children to a parent, and gave a 
peculiar unity of history and individuality of life to the 
University. It also eminently fitted them to guide the 
whole from their intimate acquaintance with its parts. 

If we carefully examine the history of any of the great 
Universities of Europe, we shall find, amid the very 
many modifications and additions and labyrinthine in- 
tricacies of detail, that the three characteristics we have 
emphasized are the only constant quantities. 

It will be seen at a glance, that the University scheme 
is one that can be realized only in an advanced condition 
of social life. Wealth and erudition must be present at 
the foundation, and a taste for high learning must be 
found in the community. 

In our own country, these conditions appeared first in 
New England and Yirginia, and in the formation of 
Harvard College and William and Mary College we may 
see traces of the University idea. But the immense 
work of taming a continent has until lately forbidden 
our educational system to look beyond the single Col- 



INAUGURAL ORATION. 39 

fege with its one Faculty of Arts, by whom the mere 
<3lements of Classical, Mathematical and Philosophical 
learning were generally taught. The College usually in 
the United States is simply a High School, into which a 
student enters with so scant a preparation, and at so 
early an age, that proficiency in any department of re- 
search as the result of his curriculum is an impossibil- 
ity. The most that can be done is to strengthen the 
<ilementary knowledge and create a taste for something 
beyond. 

The first step toward the University in the United 
8tates was the union of Medical Schools with some of the 
Colleges. Then special scientific courses were demanded 
for young men who wished to take part in the Engineer- 
ing and Mining interests, so rapidly opening to an indefi- 
nite extent throughout our land. Although this scien- 
tific course did not involve a separate faculty, yet the 
germ of tbe University was in it. The instinct of our 
country has, with a few exceptions, kept Theology to sep- 
arate schools, and it is probable that this department of 
knowledge will never be thoroughly accepted in our fuller 
realizations of the University. The separation of Church 
and State, and the manifold views of Theological Science, 
together with the peculiar bitterness of theological jeal- 
ousy may make this exception a wise one in our educa- 
t ional progress. 

The cause of high education in our own city has had 
especial disadvantages to contend with in the great ma- 
t erial prosperity of our metropolis. The riches are here 
t o found and furnish a hundred Universities, but the bent 
of the public mind is in another direction. The young 



40 INAUGURAL ORATION. 

are dazzled by the display of wealth and seek the patli 
which lead to material success. 

"Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo 

Musa loqui praeter laudem nuUius avaris ; 

Hie nostri pueri longis rationihus assem 

Discunt in jjartes centum diducereJ' 
But with all this drawback, the higher education ha« 
had a history in this city that we need not be ashamed of. 
In 1754 King's College was established here, which, as 
Columbia College, has identified itself with the city's life 
and ministers to our civic pride. Thirteen years after its 
founding a Medical School was organized in the College. 
In 1813 this school was discontinued, but recently the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, its real successor^ 
was united to the College, whose President now has pari, 
in the conferring of medical degrees. A few years ago Co- 
lumbia College added to its corps of instructors a Faculty 
of Physical Science and a Faculty of Law. This vener- 
able Institution has thus, in meeting the demands of the 
day, gradually developed the University form. Its list of 
Presidents, Professors and Alamni contains the names of 
many of the most distinguished leaders of American 
Scholarship to whose wise and fostering care the healthy 
and prosperous growth of the College is to be referred. 
The names of Bard, Hosack, Wilson, Mitchell, Kent, 
Moore, Renwick and Anthon belong to the nation, and if 
we turn from tiie ca!:aloGfiie of Professors to the roll of 

o 

the Alumni, we find represented there the names that 
gave character to the culture of our city in the olden time,, 
and do their large part in sustaining that character to-day. 
Bayard, Barclay, Schuyler, Beekman, Hoffman, Ogden, 



INAUGURAL ORATION. 41 

Ludlow, Bleecker, Clinton, Yerplanck and a host of other 
equally revered names reflect lustre on the cherishing 
mother who formed the tastes and guided the lives of 
those who bore them, and made those names a heritage 
of honor for the citizens of New York. 

The College of the City of New York was established 
in 1818 as the Free Academy by the City Government, as 
an appropriate culmination to the Public School system. 
It was to receive only the scholars of these schools and 
carry on their education through an ordinary collegiate 
course. Its excellent corps of Professors and its ener- 
getic and accomplished President secure for it the respect 
of all, but its connection with the City Government will 
always prove an obstacle to its growth into a University, 
for a University must be independent of political move- 
ments. It must be shut in to its own high employment, 
free from the excitements of the world without. In its 
government it must be as sacred and inviohible as the 
family. Only in these conditions can a lofty and broad 
earning' be secured. 

The University of the City of New York was establish- 
ed in 1330, and diffared in its constitution from Columbia 
Colleg3 in this, that the University type, into which cir- 
cumstances have caused that College to grow, was fas- 
tened upon the Univ^ersity in its orighial plan. Four 
Faculties, with very minute subdivisions of instruction 
were instituted, a system of free scholarship supplied, 
and the government of the whole vested in a Chancellor 
and Council, who form the Senates Academicus. Two 
great difficulties met the Institution at the start. The 
city was not ready for so large a plan and the expense 



42 INAUGUEAL OBATION. 

of its maintenance could not be met; so that at its 
Yery birth it had to contract itself into an ordi- 
nary College and bide its time for development. In 
1841 the Medical Department was organized in its pres- 
ent form, the Faculty of Medicine dating from 1837. In 
the Scientific Department followed, and in 1858 the Law 
Department was instituted in its present form, the Fac- 
ulty of Law dating from 1835. The Medical School in 
point of numbers has been the most thrifty and successful 
department of the University. It was a popular school 
from its beginning, such Professors as Mott, Draper, 
Payne, Pattison, Post and Bedford could not fail to draw 
from all parts of the Union young men who desired to put 
themselves in relation with the best sources of medical 
knowledge and the best exhibitions of surgical skill. In 
28 years the University has sent forth about 3,000 young 
Physicians from the thorough training of its Medical 
Faculty. The affairs of that Faculty have been managed 
with consummate tact and energy, by which the losses sus- 
tained in the destruction by fire of the edifice and Mu- 
seum have been surmounted and their present condition 
made more prosperous than ever. The Scientific School 
has lacked sufficient expansion to meet its end, and to 
that expansion the efforts of the Council are to be imme- 
diately devoted. The Law School has been lately re- 
modeled under competent directors, and will, I am sure, 
maintain its reputation for lucid and thorough instruction. 
The Faculty of Aris (or Letters,) composed of men of 
profound scholarship and large experience, have gradu- 
ated from their department in the 40 years of the Uni- 
versity's history about 800 Alumni, mostly sons of the 



INAUGURAL ORATION. 43 

City and its immodiate vicinity. The average graduates 
annually in this department, wTiich naturally represents 
the cause of general learning rather than a special pro- 
fessional training, are thus only twenty. This brings 
before our minds the subject of general education in the 
higher walks of knowledge and the difficulties before al- 
luded to in the way of such education in this centre of 
material wealth. If we regard the University idea in its 
symmetry, the Faculties should not only stand on the 
same level snbjectively as teachers, but objectively also 
ia relation to their pupils. Pupils of equal grade in pro- 
gress and development should be found in all the depart- 
ments alike. But the facts do not fit the idea. The de- 
partn:entsof Law and Medicine, and, to an extent, that of 
Physical Sciences, receive students of mature minds, 
while the dapartment of Letters and Arts receives lads 
whose acquisitions thus far have been most elementary, 
and whose intellects are undisciplined. The department 
of Arts has becDme, therefore, a preparing school for the 
other departments and for the schools of Theology. If the 
University scheme were falfilled, we should see the un- 
dergraduates of the department of Letters and Arts pur- 
suing the higher studies of Language, Philosophy and 
Mathematics, following those studies to their remotest 
lengths in comparative Philology, ancient and modern 
Literatures, Metaphysics, Pscychology, moral and politi- 
cal Philosophy, Fluxions and Quaternions. But in fact 
we find the graduate of this department has only the 
knowledge that there exist such depths of learning. He 
views the land from a Pisgah, but cannot enter it. This 
low condition of the department of Letters and Arts cor- 
responds to the condition of the Colleges of our country 



44: INAUGURAL ORATION. 

in general, where no attempt to realize the Uni\ersity 
idea is made. These Institutions, although many of 
them are honored by the presence of the first scholars of 
our country, are (as we have already said) but high 
schools for general elementary training, and the depart- 
ment of Letters and Arts in our Universities (by which 
title I include all such Colleges as Columbia and Yale) 
are in no higher position. We have to look to their 
Medical, Legal, Scientific and Theological Departments, 
if we wish to see the University scheme actually touched. 
Why is this ? It is no fault of the Institutions. If fault 
it be, it is the fault of the age and circumstances. 

Medicine, Law, Physical Science and Theology lie in 
the way of a living. By them men reach permanent 
life-long positions in the community, where they can with 
adequate remuneration exercise a beneficial influence on 
society. Hence they are ready to master these depart- 
ments of knowledge, and pursue their studies as a spe- 
cialty. But with the higher planes of Language, Philoso- 
phy and Mathematics the case is widely different. There 
is no pecuniary emolument offered here. They must be 
studied for their own sake. The mind's ambition is its 
own reward. Now in a land like ours, with wealth and 
honors lavishly offered to all, it is too much to expect of 
human nature that it should present self-denying souls 
devoted to the profound study of abstruse subjects, at 
least in any large measure. Society shrinks from the pov- 
erty and humility of such a course, not recognizing the 
true wealth and sublimity that is involved in it. And we 
must be content for awhile. We must be content to 
keep our department of Letters and Arts a mere Academic 
department, furnishing the necessary knowledge to a 



INAUGUBAL ORATION. 45 

right use of the advantages offered in the departments of 
Medicine, Law, Physical Science and Theology. By and 
by it will be different. There will be in some quarters a 
surfeit of wealth, or a reactionary spirit excited against 
its acquisition as the goal of life, or a free scholarly ap- 
petite created with an appreciation of the unseen {rd yap 
B/^srrdnEva rrpoGKaipa^ ra de fir] (3Xen6iJ.eva alcjvia) or a con- 
viction that the knowledge of the abstruse is after all 
most practical and useful, and in some or all of these 
ways a class of men will present themselves who will as 
students elevate the department of Letters and Arts to 
its proper level with the other departments of our Uni- 
versities. Already a few here and .there, known as resi- 
dent graduates, or post-graduates, mark the beginnings 
of this consummation. 

In view of these facts and considerations, we are not 
flippantly to compare our American Universities with 
those of Europe and then pass a sneer at our own. Such 
comparisons are generally very superficial. They exalt 
the details of the foreign institutions beyond their merits, 
distance causing the defects to disappear, and they mag- 
nify the faults and deficiences in our own system. They 
do not consider the widely different circumstances of the 
two, both in the genius of the people, and the character 
of the civihzation. Granted that the general aim in both 
is the same, these cursory observers do not regard the 
impinging life-facts that relentlessly demand a modifi- 
cation of means. 

A scholarship is already developed in this country as 
sound, as vigorous and as profound as any in Europe, 
and it will not only supply every demand society makes, 
but it will suggest and stimulate new demands. All that 



4.6 INAUGURAL ORATION. 

is needed is for the Medicis and Roscoes of our great cities 
to recognize fully the fact and the importance of the fact 
in its bearings on the high moral, political and social pros- 
perity of the land, that from the abundance of their ma- 
terial resources they may provide our Universities with 
the material foundations for their healthy growth. It is 
a worthy ambition for our noble-minded merchants to 
become the nursing fathers of the great educational in- 
stitutions of our country. Those works will be permanent. 
When Alfred's family is extinct, and Alfred's tomb may 
not be found, Alfred's proud University will exalt his name 
and make men bow to offer benedictions on his memory. 
It is in this way the wealth of the land will furnish soul 
and spirit as well as body to the nation. 

The University of the City of New York has passed the 
era of experiment. It is a fixed fact in our city. It has 
an improved and interest-bearing property of half a mill- 
ion of dollars, enough to insure its permanence, but far 
too little to develop its strength. Its chairs in all depart- 
ments are filled with scholars of established reputation. 
Its local conveniences of instruction are adequate and 
admirable. It has not a penny of debt nor a blemish to 
be wiped away. It has a large constituency of Alumni 
in this city, who reflect honor upon its name. While 
thoroughly undenominational in its character, it is never- 
theless an Institution that regards a religious spirit as 
necessary to a true education, and wishes always to be 
known as a positive Christian University. With no feel- 
ing of rivalry toward other noble Seminaries of learning 
but with a hearty God speed to each of them, it looks to 
the large-hearted men of wealth, who adorn our city with 



INAUGUEAL ORATION. . 47 

their munificence, and seeks to place their statues in its 
Walhalla. 

With these views and expectations, I have accepted the 
high honor conferred upon me by the University in put- 
ting me as its executive officer at the head of its affairs, 
I enter upon my studies with no ordinary enthusiasm. 
Whatever love for learning I may possess I owe to the 
faithful care of this my Alma Mater, who claims my 
gratitude as well as my filial respect. 

fidTEQ Efxa^ rb redv 

TTpdyfJia fcal doxoXlag vntprepov 

drjoofiat. TL (ptXregov 

KedvCdv rofciG)V dyadoTg ; 

No man in assuming a responsible office has a right to 
dwell upon his deficiencies. Eather should his faith and 
energy cloak his deficiencies, and his courage make for 
skill. I thank the Faculties who have spoken to-night, 
I thank the Alumni, and I thank the Council that they 
have furnished me with courage by the clear tones of their 
welcome. May the future never reproach them for their 
cordial words. It will be mine to foster the interests of 
the University with sedulous care, to seek its complete 
enlargement to the full measure of the University outline, 
to bring it into the closest relations with the wants of the 
country and the age, and in doing this to cast off all that 
may be obsolete or merely formal, and to conserve only 
that which has adaptation and life. 

In this may I have the hearty co-operation of my 
brethren of the Alumni, the generous sympathy of the 
educated and the blessing of God. 



48 NOTICE. 



NOTICE. 



-:o: 



^HE election of Dr. Crosbj as ChaDcellor was made 
<^^ with the express understandirig on Dr. Crosby's 
part, that the Council of the University should at once 
seek a new endowment of $236,000, to meet the important 
improvements necessary to fulfill the University plan, and 
bring the Institution into the fullest practical sympathy 
with the wants of the city. The plan has been carefully 
and thoroughly prepared, and if the means to carry it 
out are forthcoming, will put the University in the front 
rank of American Educational Institutions. Energy with- 
out money, cannot accomplish the end. 

We are confident, that the wealthy citizens of New- 
York, always ready when they see a sure basis for their 
gifts, will respond to this call, and make this ciii-is an 
effective one, for the interests of science and learning. 
Eaculties of distinguished reputation, lecture rooms un- 
surpassed for size and comfort in any of our Colleges, a 
central position in the Metropolis that includes Brooklyn 
and Jersey City, and free tuition to all, are condirious 
now existing, for which this increased efficiency is sought. 
There are no debts to pay, aud the finances of tLe In- 
stitution are managed with the utmost care and economy. 
The Council in accordance with these views, and de- 
termined to act with promptness and vigor, have ap- 
pointed Messrs. Charles Butler, "Wm. M. Yermilye, James 



NOTICE. 



49 



Brown and John C. Green, the President, as a Com- 
mittee to put the whole matter before our fellow-citizen 
and ask from them substantial tokens of their confidence 
and co-operation. 

The Council feel that their claim upon Dr. Crosby's 
services is based upon the acquisition of this sum, to 
carry out the plan announced, and therefore urge the 
immediate necessities of the case. 



WM. R. MARTIN, Secretary. 
W. M. VERMILYE, Treasurer. 



JOHN C. GREEN, FresidenL 
J. T. JOHNSTON, Vice-FresH. 



COUNCIL. 



Gaediner Speing, D. D . 
James Brown. 
Mancius S. Hutton, D. D. 
Robert L. Kennedy. 
William E. Dodge. 
LoRiNG Andrews. 
William R. Martin. 
Robert H . McCurdy. 
Hon. Wm. B. Maclay. 
John Taylor Johnston. 
Thomas De Witt, D . D. 
James Suydam. 
Isaac Ferris, D. D. 
George Griswold. 
Thos. C. Chard avoyne. 
Henry Van Schaick. 



John C. Green. 
E. P. Rogers, D.D. 
Howard Crosby, D. D. 
John E . Parsons. 
William H . Neilson. 
Hon. A. Oakey Hall. 
J. W. C. Leveridge. 
Thomas C. Doremus. 
Charles Butler. 
William M. Vermilye. 
Adam Norrie. 
Morris K. Jesup. 
William Allen Butler. 
Jas. K. Campbell, D. D. 
Aaron J. Vanderpoel. 



Alderman, Thomas Coman. 

Emanuel B . Hart. 

Assistant Alderman, James Parker. 

Erastus Littlefield. 



New-York, February, 1871. 



